Los Angeles County
Biographies
SPENCER LANGDON BLODGET
The Blodget family has been represented among the foremost families of Southern California since 1885, when Spencer Langdon Blodget first came within the confines of the state and settled in Bakersfield, in this state to become one of the outstanding financiers and business men. Mr. Blodget was born in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1859, his parents having been William Oren and Esther Ann (Spencer) Blodget. The Blodgets are descended from Puritan stock from England, the first of the name in America having been Thomas Blogget, a varied spelling of the name. He came across the Atlantic from Norfolk, England, in 1635. Mr. Blodget’s great-grandfather, Solomon Blodget, was a resident of Brimfield, Massachusetts and of Revolutionary stock. His son was Arba Blodget, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, and then came William Oren Blodget, who was born in Gorham, New York, in 1824, and was a teacher and merchant in Sugar Grove in later years. He was a first lieutenant in the One Hundred and Fifty-first Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at the battle of Gettysburg. Others whom records show were connected with the genealogical line of the Blodgets were Thomas Maule, who lived in Salem, Massachusetts, and was one of the defenders of a free press; Isaac Sternes, Gregory Stone, Walter Haynes, Sergt. John Tidd and others notable in colonial annals. Esther Ann (Spencer) Blodget, mother of the immediate subject of his biography, was descended from Squire Benjamin Spencer, whose controversy with Ethan Allen of Vermont resulted in riots and the expulsion of Allen. He was a Loyalist and with his sons moved into Canada, where the family lived for several generations.
Spencer L. Blodget was a student at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, but resigned for the purpose of engaging in business pursuits. First he was in merchandising in Pennsylvania, then, as noted, came westward in 1885 and established himself in Bakersfield, California, where he was in the drug business for several years. In 1907, he moved to Los Angeles and in this city and in Huntington Beach he became interested in the banking business. Military affairs also occupied his attention through many years. He was a colonel in the California Sons of Veterans in 1888, and for a decade ending in 1898 was a lieutenant in the California National Guard, Company G of the Sixth Regiment in Bakersfield. Mr. Blodget attained the thirty-second degree in Masonry, was a member of the Mystic Shrine, and served as Commander of the Bakersfield Commandery of the Knights Templar.
Spencer L. Blodget was married first December 17, 1878 to Carra Myrtle Belnap, who was born in Youngsville, Pennsylvania, February 12, 1860 and died in 1893. She was a daughter of A. M. and Ellen (Fletcher) Belnap, and was descended from American colonial ancestry. She was in line from Jesse Belnap, who, according to history, forged the chain which hindered the enemy passage of the Hudson river at West Point during the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Blodget’s father came to California during the gold rush of the ‘50s and took the dangerous route across Nicaragua. Later, he returned to Youngsville, whence he came, and in that city was postmaster for twenty-one years. He returned to California in 1886, and passed away in Bakersfield in 1910, at which time he had attained the venerable age of eighty-five years. His wife, who was Ellen Fletcher before their marriage, was descended from Robert Fletcher and Ezekiel Cheever, the latter known as the Boston Schoolmaster. To Mr. and Mrs. Blodget there were born five sons and one daughter, namely: Claude R.; Percy L.; Rush M.; Ward B.; Lewis W.; and Marian B.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
161-162, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Joyce Rugeroni.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES